


The Request

by JackMcGarrett



Series: East Side Story [4]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Emotional Baggage, Family Issues, Medical Conditions, Not Beta Read, Strained Relationships, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:53:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26524777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackMcGarrett/pseuds/JackMcGarrett
Summary: Eric finally meets up with his father and listens to what he's got to say.
Series: East Side Story [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1928590
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	The Request

He almost makes it to half the day before he admits he’s too distracted to work. It wasn’t fair to the people that were relying on the results of evidence that he wasn’t putting in the effort they deserved. He called in a favor of the guy who was off that day to come in and cover for him. 

That was probably the most responsible thing he’d do that day. 

Eric had absolutely no idea what he’d do if his father turned out to be a stand-up guy after all of this. No, he was far more prepared to deck the guy with his best right hook and hope his Uncle Danny found it funny when he picked him up from jail. 

He orders an Uber and while he waits he texts the number to see if it’s a cellphone. His anxiety shoots through the roof as the reply is almost instantaneous. Eric’s father is already on the island, at his hotel, and apparently ‘still up to meet’ after all. 

His prayers for his Uber to cancel on him go unanswered as the car pulls up. Apparently he’s a lot more anxious than he feels because his Uber driver asks if he would rather get dropped off at the ER instead of a hotel. Eric takes a deep breath and thanks the driver before making his way into the lobby. 

He hasn’t seen his father in years. Not even in pictures. As his eyes scan the people in the lobby he feels the anticipation turn into pure nausea. He feels sweaty, his breathings off, his blood’s racing. If he doesn’t pass out from stress and anxiety soon it’ll be a miracle. 

“Eric?”

When he turns to see the man who called his name, Eric wasn’t sure what he expected. Since they were in a hotel instead of a motel, Eric assumed his father had _some_ money. If only for the moment. But it wasn’t too fancy of a hotel that he felt out of place. And his father didn’t seem out of place either. 

He looked...like a normal guy. 

His father was slightly taller than him, but too much so he didn’t have to crane his neck to make eye contact. He was of average build, in jeans and a solid color t-shirt. His head was full of dark salt and pepper hair, and the only relief Eric felt at the moment was that he wasn’t inclined to go bald genetically. He still might just from this meeting alone, but that was just hyperbole. 

“Gabe.” Eric hoped he could at least sound composed, even if he didn’t feel it. The look of regret flashed on his father’s face at being called by his name rather than his title. Good. Eric didn’t think they were even on a first name basis, but calling each other _Russo_ might just be weird. 

“You look...good.” His father told him awkwardly. 

“You too,” Eric replied as awkwardly. His father took a step forward, and Eric wasn’t sure for what, but he didn’t want to be touched by the other man. Not for a hand-shake and especially not for a hug, so he took a step back. 

He did look good. Not desperate, disheveled, or screaming of ‘in need!’. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to ask for money. Though sometimes favors carried further than cold hard cash. It was eating him up and Eric didn’t know how long he could maintain this shocked semblance of calm. So he asked, “What do you want?” 

His father chuckled but Eric didn’t see the humor in it. “Straight to the point. Just like your mother…” More regret flashes over his father’s face and it gives him a few more moments of control. “Does she know you’re meeting me?” 

“No. She’s been done with you for years. I should be too! So tell me what this is about so we can get on with our lives!” That came out a lot angrier than he intended. More...indignant. 

“I am so sor-” He cuts himself off. He gives Eric a look that he can’t decipher before he begins to explain. “I...remarried. Eventually.”

_‘Eventually’_ meaning after his parent’s overly complicated divorce went through since he bailed. Eric only became aware of that through the grapevine of cousin gossip. The feeling he felt inside wasn’t something he could name. It was anger and jealousy rolled into one and amplified. 

So his mother hadn’t been good enough for him to stay? But some other woman was good enough for him to want to remarry after what he went through with them? 

That begged the question of….siblings. 

“You gonna tell me you had more kids?” 

“I...I do.”

Eric swallowed back the bile he wanted to puke. His eyes stung with emotion and he was ready to bolt. This had been a mistake. For whatever he wanted to pretend...he wasn’t mature enough to handle this! Why he thought so, he had no idea! 

He hadn’t been good enough for his father to stay. Or visit. Or call. 

But some other kid apparently had the stand-up version of Gabriel Russo that Eric hadn’t been good enough for! 

Yeah, he started to storm out of there. He didn’t get far. His father grabbed his forearm to stop him. “Eric! _Please_! I...I know this isn’t right. Isn’t fair. But please! I’m begging here!”

“Why should I give a shit?!” Eric demanded. 

“Because they’re sick! They’re too low on the list of donors and we’re running out of options!” 

Eric tore his arm free of him and stared incredulously at his father. “That’s what it takes for you to come looking for me? The child you wanted needs an organ? _That’s_ what it took for you to **_remember_** you had a son!? _**FUCK YOU**!_” 

He ran off after that. Eric didn’t care where his legs carried him off to, so long as it was away from his father. When he stopped running, he did puke his guts out. Then crumbled to the ground and cried. The fact that it happened in some pharmacy parking lot was both embarrassing and helpful. The pharmacist was a sweet old lady who gave him some ginger ale. At that moment, and because he was talking to a stranger, he let it all out.

Some sage Hawaiian advice and a few hours later he sends his father a text. 

_‘I’ll see if I’m even a match’_

Adam told him he might not like what his father had to say, but that he could work through it. He helped people, that was his job. 

In his mind, this was asking a lot. Literally, his father was asking for an organ. Eric knew himself enough to know that if he didn’t try, this would haunt him as well. After what happened with Charlie, as well as with the Commander...well, maybe the Williams men were just meant to be donors. 

He goes to a sister clinic to the hospital his half-sibling is being taken care of and gets tested. 

He’s a match. 

Eric calls his father and without greeting says, “I’ll do it. But I don’t want to see your face again. I don’t want to meet them or your new wife. After this...stay out of my life. I’ll see you in LA.” 

He hangs up and crumbles to the floor and cries. Feeling shame, anger, jealousy, and all the things he’s ignored all of his childhood and teenage years. He’s aware he doesn’t _have_ to do it. But it also doesn’t feel like he has a choice. The next part he knows he can’t do alone. 

Standing on shaky legs, he dusts himself off and heads home to pack. 


End file.
